Children's Home run by Young Foundations Limited in Darlington

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 1 SC061439 Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children who may have social and emotional difficulties. They may also have learning disabilities or mental health disorders.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager’s post is currently vacant.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 28 November 2023

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/10/2022 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Inadequate 28/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 3

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences in the home are affected by a high turnover of staff. The continuity of care provided to children is impacted by different staff coming into the home to care for them. Children do not have a sense of stability, and this does not create a settled or supportive environment.

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improvement to be good

One child has moved out of the home since the last inspection. The child made limited progress in the home and the manager served notice ending the placement. A planned move was not achieved to support the child to have a positive end to their time in the home.

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improvement to be good

The home’s admissions process is not followed for new children who come to live in the home. The manager has accepted a child into the home without gaining all of the necessary information to inform how staff will meet their needs effectively. This includes not ensuring the necessary consent is in place to enable staff to make basic decisions related to the child’s care, such as making health appointments.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to engage in learning. Staff transport children to and from school. When children make progress, their efforts are celebrated. This shows children that staff are proud of their achievements.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure children are supported to attend health appointments about their emotional and physical needs. The home uses their therapeutic resources to offer children additional emotional support. If children are not ready to engage in this work, clinicians provide advice and guidance to staff so that they are equipped to support children appropriately.

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improvement to be good

The home is well presented and has a welcoming feel. Staff encourage children to personalise their bedrooms when they move into the home. However, one child said that they wished to redecorate their room over a number of months and their request was not responded to. This does not show children that their views and wishes are valued.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments provide information about their behaviour and vulnerabilities. However, managers do not ensure that risk assessments provide details of all known risks to children. This leaves gaps in the information given to staff and the actions they should take to safeguard children.

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improvement to be good

Staff restrain children when this is necessary to keep them and others safe. Staff are trained to support children in crisis and detailed records are kept. The child and staff are Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 4 provided an opportunity to speak with someone after an incident. However, not all incidents are overseen by the manager. Learning from incidents is not transferred into children’s plans to help staff understand how best to support children.

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improvement to be good

When children make allegations against staff, these are not always managed well or recorded. Although some allegations are referred to the local authority designated officer, the managers has not taken steps investigate complaints. This does not provide assurances that concerns raised by children are taken seriously or that the necessary action has been taken to safeguard them. In addition, Ofsted was not notified of all allegations made against staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not follow the home’s procedures when children go missing from home. Children are not offered an independent person to speak to and return home interviews are not taking place. This prevents the manager from identifying patterns of behaviour and disseminating that learning to staff so they can better support children.

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improvement to be good

There has been a lack of professional boundaries in the home. Consequently, children have been allowed to vape inside the home and staff office. The newly appointed manager is taking steps to change this culture to provide positive role modelling for children.

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improvement to be good

Consequences are used in the home to help children to learn about their behaviours. However, not all consequences relate to the behaviour and the manager does not have oversight of their use. This means managers are not reviewing whether consequences imposed by staff are reasonable or effective.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers ensure that recruitment of staff to work in the home is safe. There are robust systems in place to ensure that information is explored prior to adults coming to work in the home. This ensures that only adults who are safe to do so are welcomed to work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager since September 2023. This has had a significant negative impact on the operation of the home and the experiences and progress of children. The new manager was appointed in April 2024 and has recently submitted their application to be registered. The manager was able to identify areas of development and is accepting of shortfalls raised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers’ monitoring systems are not effective. Leaders and managers do not have oversight of the children’s records, including their risk assessments, care plans and incident reports. This hinders the manager’s ability to identify any shortfalls in staff practice or plan improvements to raise the standard of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders do not ensure that staff, including the new manager, who come to work in the home have a suitable induction or appropriate support in place. In addition, the manager Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 5 and staff are not receiving regular supervision to review their learning and ensure that any issues are addressed. Those providing supervision to staff have not been trained to do so. This means that there is a poor approach to supporting and overseeing staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all new staff have completed the mandatory safeguarding training required of them. This means that leaders cannot be assured that staff posses the necessary knowledge to respond to safeguarding concerns for children. Consequently, the new manager and staff may not respond effectively to ensure that children are safe in the event that a concern is raised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Team meetings take place regularly. There are opportunities to discuss practice within the home to ensure all staff understand the manager’s expectations. This ensures all staff understand changes brought into the home to begin to develop consistency for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)) 29 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 29 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 7 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 29 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 8 The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 29 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(b)) 29 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 29 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 29 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 9 within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii) (4)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 10

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Young Foundations Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Alexander House, Highfield Park, Llandyrnog, Denbighshire, Wales LL16 4LU

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Inspector

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC061439 12 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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